Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-07-19
IN THE CEMETERIES.
DESCRIPTION OF TIE CReSENT
CITYS QUAINT GRAvsYAROS.

New Orleans Queer Tombs snd Inscrir.
tions-Gnaried oaks and Funeral Moss.
Spot where Everything Is Bright
and CIsan-Narbi. Houses.
How will we get into the cemeteries"
We ask the friend who has pointed ont the
car that will take us 10 three of the most
noted The gates are always open; there
Will be no trouble about enieriag" The
car starts. she bows and trips down the
Street-a dear little lady in widow : dreS.
to her work in great Office while We
spin along un 0ur holiday jauut Ia the
place of the dead. \ white wall gnarlrd
oaks with their sad funeral moss. glossy
magnolia trees. with white buds scarcely
showing in their tight CalyN wrapping. of
greeu-that i our first outside view %:
the cemetery. Then. through the open
gate We walk into place. level green.
moundlesS. IL l. one of the Older GENE
teries, An avenue 0f superb oaks conducts
through its center The spectral moss
rocks back and forth across the Shadowv
way. II has no rustic. no sound It
seems a symbul of an old vet unforgeIting
grief; sign of sorrow for the dead
after it has subsidized from tears and soh>
On the tombs in this cemetery are
carved the old French names with crosses
or crests. and on projecting hooks fastened
in the cement of the wall hang rrmen,
brances 81 ugly that even lowing sentiment
cannot make them other than deseCrat ions
To the eye; those skeleton wreathS uf black,
wire strung beads that shine with "A
moCkery Of mourning, or those chalky
white ones that seem like clowns in II
TRAGEDY How grotesque appears human
ity's expression of deepest feeling heside
the gray moss that mourus overhead and
bright roses that smile from below. where
sweet natures sympathy and consolation
mngle in this place of bereavement 50
tenderly. So tastefully.
ont of this old cemetery we go 70 a
neighboring one. dazzling as this one is
somber. Here the moss and the heads,
and the foreign names serve la make one
feel out of this world. IN a lonesome place.
apart from ones own. But in the neigh
boring spot death is beautiful. JOYOUS
never cemetery that seemed 81 brilliant,
81 clean. 50 clear There is no sign of the
ancient oak, all the trees are glossy of leaf
and perfumed-magnoliss that rustic and
shine, and break out anon in fsirest and
wriukled with graves; 1t is smooth and
clean, stretched out into the sunshine
without flower or head>tone The walks |
are wide, WeedIrsS. formed Of finely pull /
verized white shells. Along these white
roads. like dwellings along "A street. are
the family t"mhS. entirely above ground,
each separate, ia it, own unfruced YARD VI
green.
LIKE SMALL DWELLINGS
The tomhs are eight 10 ten feet apart
and siN or eight from the edge af the ruad,
each approached from the roadway by 4
narrow marble footwalk They are of
White marble and shaped like small dwell
iugS. They are two or three stories in
height; that is. about ten or twelve feet
and proporrioned neatly; the roof, of rrar-
Bile is turreted, gothic domed or pagcsia
shaped The effect of these marble I
houses, close on either side the avenue,
with the little spaces of green between /
them and the wide, unbroken lawn back |
of them, the toInbs following the cur, es |
Of the road, and leaving in one sheet the
level ground between, give an order and
sense Of breathing space such as our own
can never have. The marble
doors of the palaces of the dead shut
flowers Of the choicest kind, so that the /
white road. accentuated by the white .
at uniform distance back .
from il, is So bordered along its edge .
by these adjoining flower plants as
10 make continuous parterre Of
only relief i'm the white .
and green of the large cemetery .
grounds. There are no flowers anywhere .
else. The effect is eXquisite-the effect .
produced by separately massing colors;
the carving road, white rs unfrodden
snow. the long lines uf brilliant flowers On
either side, edged 10y the wide rows Of .
glisrening marble tOmhs, backed by the
green grass and scattering trees, which
make the center Of the place a park like
eXpanse.
In another cemetery, little more
tangled than this, and little less somher
than the other, l wac attracted by an i'm
mense pyramid shaped structure of rough
granite rocks, some twelve OF fifteen feet
so uare al its base. Ii WAS of unusual size,
shape and color, and stood near the el.
trance portal. l remember that the i'll
scription commemorated the virtues OF Il
dead wife, and depicted the longing Of thd
living consort; il stated how long they
had lived together, that they had no child,
and We're all the world To one another
hat the bereaved husband was the last q,
his race and family, and this tomb held all
that was precious To his heart. Chicago